Hello everybody! ever since i got my van I've been doing some maintenance work to prevent any troubles in the future. I will be changing the thermostat on my atrai, but for the love of god i cannot find it. Does anyone have any idea where it is? need to change it asap as my van seems to overheat when its on idle for more than 5 mins, but when its moving the temp needle goes a little lower than half. I figured i'll start with the simplest task which is the thermostat but it's turning into a pain in the @$$ to find it. thanks in advance!
Try this old school method. Follow your top radiator hose to the block, and that will go into a housing, that holds the thermostat! It's never failed me yet! Be gentle removing old hoses and the like parts, they tend to get brittle with time. If the hoses are squishy, replace them!!! Good Luck! Limestone
The thermostat on an EF series engine should be at the rear of the engine beside the distributor. As Limestone says, there will be a piece of coolant hose going to the housing
thank you! found it, i replaced it but sadly it still overheats, what else can it be? bad radiator sensor? i noticed that the fan does not turn on at all, should i just rewire it so i can turn it on manually?
First of all check and see if the fan is good by fooling it with some juice,(power)! Sometimes just by cleaning the sensor, that'll do it. Once I know that the fan motor is good, then check the sensor! Make sure your thermostat is opening! Even if it's new, throw it in a pot of hot water to make sure it's expanding properly, I've seen new ones not work properly! Kind of a silly question, but were all human, did you put the thermostat facing the right way? Sometimes we get in a hurry, and it's easy to do, cuz it sounds like the fluid's not circulating, hence a closed thermostat! Did you try running it without the thermostat in place, creating an open flow,(circulation)! Limestone
Thank you Limestone for your reply, i made sure i put the thermostat the right way( there was only one way to be honest, not possible to install it wrong), i have order a new sensor, hoping thats what it is, i haven't ran the van without the thermostat to be honest, i will try to do that tomorrow, if it doesn't overheat then its a bad thermostat even though its new, thank you so much for your advice i will try it tomorrow!!!
You can check the thermostat with a thermometer, a pan of water and a stove. Fill a pan with enough water to cover the thermostat. Put the thermostat and thermometer in the water while it is cold, and turn on the burner. The thermostat should be fully open at around 190F, or about 89C. if it doesn’t it is bad.
Thank you "Jigs-n-fixtures", where do you guys get your parts from? i got my maintenance kit from yokohamamotors.net but its a hit and miss with them, sometimes they reply to the emails, sometimes i get not reply at all.
Teh guys at NAPA and I can generally figure out substitutes for the factory stuff, if a I take a bit of time on a weekday afternoon, when they aren’t busy. They are busy on Friday afternoon and Saturdays, with the diy folks, and then Monday with the shops getting going for the week. So, I respect that and don’t bother them looking for things they don’t have in their catalog. I needed a new oil cap for the reservoir on the hydraulic pump on my Hijet. Went in Tuesday after work, with what was left of the old one. One of the guys looked at it and said 80s Chevy. Walked back and got one, and it fit but wasn’t vented. 16th inch drill and some stainless steel wool, and I had a vented cap. The manual list a spark plug only available in Japan, with dual electrodes and special features, which isn’t in the US & Canada NGK catalog. So I looked up the catalog for the EU ona the web, which explained the NGK numbering nomenclature. That allowed me to decode the stock plug number into one for a single electrode plug available in the US&Canada. I cut my teeth on Sunbeam Alpines and Tigers. About five years after Sunbeam went bankrupt, and was bought by Chrysler. And the parts houses either sold Amaerican Car Part, or Foreign Car Parts. You couldn’t get any parts for any Sunbeam with out having to hunt them down. so, I learned to be resourceful. If you wanted parts for the Ford 260 or 289 small block in a Tiger, you told them it was for a 64 Falcon, or Mustang, and they would look up and sell you parts. If you told them it was a Sunbeam, they wouldn’t sell you anything, because it wasn’t in their books. I needed suspension bushings, and couldn’t find them any where. Old Machinist showed me hot to turn them out of sintered bronze, and then bake them over night in a coffee can of grease.
I live rural, and our local NAPA sells all kinds of things, for all types of equipment and vehicles from ATVs to 4-yard loaders, and rock trucks. So, the guys at mine are used to figuring things out, and know that there are five basic patterns of thermostats, varying mostly in the diameter of the flange. You can do the foot work yourself and figure out the Gates brand catalog number, by using the information on the Gates webpage and a set of calipers. If you don’t have a set you can buy a set of calipers for about $20. They are really handy to ave when your trying figure out what fits what. If you measure you Flange diameter, and then sort the list on this web page, by flange diameter (click on the header for the column) you can find the correct thermostat by flange diameter and opening temperature. https://www.gates.com/us/en/other-products/caps-and-thermostats/thermostats.html
Yeah I agree. The inner city Napa people won't give you the time of day! The suburban, Napa's and like Jigs said the Rural Guys are the best! It's all about helping people, and if you can find a good old school country guy to help you, your in! I just think Jigs and I like a few others have developed relationships with certain people to suit are likes and needs, and that's just where were at in life! Believe me when I tell you, it's taken some time, and weeding out a few knuckleheads along the way! Limestone
Just an update: I removed the thermostat and tested it with hot water(around 190) and it does open, now I ran the van without a thermostat and I manually turned on the fan and still overheats, I checked the oil but it looks normal, now am maybe thinking it's the water pump or a clogged radiator, I will test the radiator tomorrow and hopefully that's it, am really praying it's not the head gasket
The water pump sounds realistic, if it's not circulating properly, that would definitely do it. Kind of an unwritten rule of thumb, most guys while their in there replacing the water pump, would definitely replace the Belt, belt tension er, and any so called wear parts, just to eliminate, having to go back in again! It might take a little more, and it's a few bucks more, but It's worth it! I'm one of those guy's that would do it! It's never god if the belt breaks, on these things, they can cause a lot of unwanted damage! Limestone
Another thought. Is it really overheating ? Or is the gauge just indicating high ? Has it boiled over ?. I have a 1969 British car that for years was "overheating" . I would have to run the heater in the summer to keep it under control, and even pull over to let it cool down. I did everything to find the problem. Finally discovered that the Smiths gauges are designed to work with 10 volts of power, and there is a small voltage controller / stabilizer bolted to the rear of the speedo, that feeds proper voltage to the gauges - mine was not working properly. Spent $30.00 for a new one and my gauge is rock solid correct now. It also made my fuel gauge operate correctly. I don.t think the HiJet has this, but the temp. sending unit could be FuBar.
As another thought, in reference to what you said. When I took mine apart, I took my Radiator to an old time, Radiator shop, that's been around for a while, and they Re cored it for me, I think for $250.00 bucks, which I was very happy with! Last year I posted some pics showing how encrusted it was with Phosphorous build up. It's amazing how much damage you can do to your engine without proper cooling! Flushing the Radiator is good, if it's done on a regular basis, cleaning the inside, but when it's not done on a regular basis, the crud will adhere and stick to the exterior fins and cooling tubes, reducing the cooling capabilities of the Radiator! Just another thought to consider! Limestone
water pump: I know of problems with other car makers when they changed from metal pumps to plastic impellers, often the impeller got lose and the impeller shaft driven by the belt was moving, but the impeller hardly moved. Not sure about the design on your model. Here some pics from BMW plastic impellers https://brentfordracing.com/2020/05...ater-pump-vs-oem-style-welded-steel-impeller/ that was 15 years ago. Nowadays new water pumps are made with a ceramic/composite impeller, metal impellers are getting less and less as too heavy and they cause pre mature wear of the impeller bearing it is said.
The voltage dropped gauges are pretty common on older vehicles. My 69 F250 has one, and my folks had Volvo’s built in 69, and 87, that had them. My mom was driving the 87 and ran out of gas,, and swore that the gauge said it had an 1/8th of a tank left. So, she started refilling at half a tank. But, “the car was running warm, and almost over heating”. I told dad to go by the Volvo dealer and get a new regulator, and that it was right above teh fuse panel on the right kick panel. next Saturday I went out to visit, and Dad has the radiator out, and has a new water pump sitting there. So, i loaded him in my truck and we ran into the Volvo dealer, and bought the new regulator for $21 and change. Drove back to their house and put the radiator back in, and replaced teh regulator. Both gauges instantly worked right and the overheating, and running out of gas stopped. On your truck, are you sure the head is pruned of air?
My worst nightmare was confirmed today, my local mechanic did a block test and the head gasket is out...very bummed out but it is what it is, Now i need to find a head gasket kit, i emailed https://yokohamamotors.net/ hopefully they respond today
